Dance Your Ass Off: The Workout

The Oxygen Network and Crunch Gyms just released a slick and well-made weight-loss DVD, Dance Your Ass Off: The Workout (46 minutes total) starring the show's choreographer, Linda Ligon, with three other professional dancers, two pretty models, plus Ruben, the winner of last year's competition. Ruben, after losing 90 pounds, is only a mediocre dancer (which inspired me to follow along with him), but he won $1000,000 on the show last season. Here, the 43-year-old Las Vegas designer holds his own against the band of hard bodies on three different routines – each about 15 to 20 minutes long, including warm-ups.

Full disclosure on the dance party DVD front: I barely consider a dance-based routine any kind of cardio or fat-blasting workout, so I'm a pretty harsh critic of any kind of highly choreographed workout. A grapevine here, maybe a hips swivel there and I'm good to go – bring on the squats and push-ups, if you know what I mean. But it's hard not to like and be inspired by all of these perky dancers burning up the floor and partying off the pounds with three different styles of dance: Upbeat disco, hip-hop combinations, and sexy Latin sizzle. Great tunes, too.

Availiable on Amazon.com, the Dance Your Ass Off workout is best for both novice exercisers and devout lovers of these reality shows, and even the set resembles the one on television, so you can pretend you're one of those lucky contestants as you shake and shimmy across the twinkly purple stage. Choreographer Lisa throws out lots of plucky motivation, but I still found some combinations moving too fast. As for me, well, I liked the Latin dance segment the best, but I had to rewind one too many times, and I had to try and stop cursing Lisa's blonde bounciness halfway through. Fans of the show "Dance Your Ass Off" and heavy-duty hoofers will totally shake their groove things with these routines.

If you like to mambo or samba, try our other dance-oriented routines. Plus, check out That's Fit's full Dance Your Ass Off coverage, news and interviews.